REDONDO BEACH – A high school boys’ basketball team that wouldn’t have been in the CIF Southern Section Open Division playoffs if the field had not expanded to 12 now finds itself just one win away from the championship game in Ontario’s Toyota Arena next Saturday.
Coach Randy Oronoz’s La Mirada Matadores – trailing by five points with just less than fourth minutes to go in the fourth quarter with their best player on the bench with five fouls – outscored host Redondo Union, 16-8, the rest of the way to pull off the 73-70 upset in an Open Division quarterfinal in front of a nearly capacity crowd.
The Matadores (23-7) – the 12 seed in the division as sorted by the computer system the Southern Section uses to rank its teams but No. 7 in BurlisonOnBasketball SoCal final regular season ratings – had picked off another home team the week before when they knock off 5 seed St. John Bosco, 56-53.
They will try to pull off some more road magic Tuesday night when they go to the San Fernando Valley to take on 7 seed Harvard-Westlake (which held off visiting and 9 seed Crespi Friday night, 49-46) in a semifinal.
In the other San Fernando Valley-based semifinal, 4 seed Notre Dame (which edged visiting and 6 seed Corona Centennial, 59-56) visits No. 1 seed Sierra Canyon (which rolled past 2 seed Santa Margarita, 70-47).
The Sea Hawks (27-4 after their 13-game win streak was snapped) came into the game with one of their key players, senior guard Chace Holley (who recently committed to Pepperdine) nursing a bruised right foot suffered in the win against Centennial.
After a couple of days of treatment, his decided to play following warmups and was in the starting lineup.
But, with the discomfort, he lacked his significant “burst” on at the dribble, and was subbed out several times, grabbing a rebound and hitting a wide-open 3 that put his team up 10 in the second quarter.
He remained on the bench in the second half.
Yet, the Sea Hawks were up by as many as 11 points in the first quarter (before the Matadores closed with the final 10 points) and 10 points in the second quarter before La Mirada got to within two points at intermission, despite the combined 39 points from Chris Sanders (18), S.J. Madison (11) and Kaiden Wilson (10).
La Mirada’s best player, junior forward Gene Roebuck, was still bothered by an ankle sprain he suffered late in the team’s first-round, Feb. 11 loss at Notre Dame in Sherman Oaks although he played two days later at St. John Bosco.
But his most significant obstacles Friday night were the referee whistles.
He picked up two personal fouls in the first 2:16 (the second a charge) but Oronoz kept him on the floor, and he hit a 3 and two free throws as part of the quarter-closing run.
Foul No. 3 (while attempting to block a Madison jumper) came with 4:53 to go in the second quarter.
He went to the bench, but Oronoz need a terrific job of “situational subbing” with him (on the floor on offense, on the bench for defense, when dead ball situations stopped the clock), and Roebuck responded with two deep 3s – as in 23-feet away, at least – and a free throw before intermission.
He started the third quarter with another mega-3 (with Sander’s right hand in his line of vision), before he was hit with a foul with 1:27 remaining after hitting two free throws and a layup gave him 19 points.
With the deficit at six points to start the fourth quarter, Roebuck stay edon the floor – and in the game – lasted just 14 seconds before he was called for a ball while trying to defend Wilson just outside the lane.
What an appeared to be a key turning point in the outcome proved to be just that – but not in the way most might have assumed.
“So many say that ‘La Mirada is all Gene Roebuck’”, Oronoz said 20 minutes after the final buzzer, while being congratulated by La Mirada parent, fans and administrators just outside the Redondo gym.
“Well, tonight we showed that isn’t the case.”
Indeed, with one of the west’s best scorers reduced to a bench-ridden cheerleader, the “supporting cast” stepped up in a remarkable fashion.
Moments after Sanders’ layup (his 24th and 25th points) expanded the Sea Hawks’ advantage to 62-57, senor reserve guard Tristan Partida – generously listed at 5-foot-10 on the roster – drilled a 3 from so deep in the left corner he could have fallen into a teammate’s lap on the bench after releasing the ball.
Less than a minute later, following a Redondo turnover, 5-11 junior point guard Cisco Munoz (a late summer transfer from Vista Murrieta), hit another jumper from well behind the arc on the right wing to put the score in La Mirada’s advantage at 63-62 with 2:52 remaining – its only lead since the first minute of the game.
After the ball went out of bounds to La Mirada after a missed 3, Redondo Coach Reggie Morris Jr. called his fourth timeout.
But, when play resumed, the Matadores beat the Sea Hawks’ full-court pressure with senior forward Andrew Castro (who, despite the bulk of the second half with four fouls, finished with 10 points and five rebounds) converting a layup while being fouled with 2:25 to play.
Madison (who finished with 18 points, six rebounds and three assists) was fouled inside the lane with 2:11 to go and hit both free throws to get the hosts to within a point.
The Matadores’ last two possessions were crushers for the Redondo defense.
With 1:47 remaining, senior guard King-Riley Owens (10 points and three assists), dribble penetrated into the top of the key, turned and flipped a pass to Parida (trailing him), who promptly launched – and swished – another 3 for a four-point edge.
The Matadores rebounded a miss by Wilson (16 of his 18 points in the first three quarters), with a bit more than a minute to go, forward Jordyn Houston missed a jump shot and, in the scramble for the loose ball, Partida recovered it beyond the top of the key – and immediately turned and smashed another 3 into the hearts of the Redondo players, coaches and spectators with 51 seconds remaining.
Munoz and Partida (pictured, left to right, courtesy James McCormack) combined for 18 of their team’s 24 fourth-quarter points, as well as being responsible for helping negate Redondo’s pressure defense (only two turnovers in the second half after eight in the first 16 minutes) and tracking and contesting Redondo’s jump shooters, limiting the hosts to four 3s, two of those in the last 30 seconds by Devin Wright and Joey Albala.
“The guys did a great job of following the game plan,” Oronoz said.
“We wanted to limit their runs and pressure their shooters and take care of the ball. We felt pretty good to be only down six (going into the fourth quarter).”
The Sea Hawks – after their first loss since falling to Phoenix Sunnyslope in the Dec. 30 Classic at Damien Platinum Division championship game – must wait until March1’s State Regional pairings unveiling to find out when and where – and in what division – their next game will be played.
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